Nick Foles broke his hand. He could easily have pawned off the flutterer that fell short of Jeremy Maclin for the tying touchdown in the final seconds against the Redskins on the hairline fracture in his throwing hand. Nobody would have blinked. The swollen right hand would have been the easy excuse for the poor throw.

Only Nick Foles, who believes he hurt the hand on a first-half scramble, isn't wired that way. In some ways, he's the anti-Donovan McNabb. He refuses to deflect criticism. In fact, he seems to embrace it.

"I don't think [the broken hand] affected me at all," said Foles, who was placed on injured reserve this week after playing the entire second half against Washington with the injury. "I still feel like all the throws I could have made them no matter what. It had no effect."

Foles' rookie year ended with some impressive stats. The third-round pick out of Arizona set the franchise rookie passing records for yards (1,699), attempts (265) and completions (161). He threw for the most yards (219) by an Eagle in his rookie debut. He rallied the Eagles for a last-second victory in Tampa Bay. He completed 61 percent of his passes in the seven games he appeared.

Still, it's the 1-5 record as a starter that sticks out most in his mind.

"I didn't do my job," Foles said. "As starting quarterback, you have to put more points on the board at whatever cost to win the game. If you want to look at it like that, which I do, I didn't do my job and that's something I have to keep working on. If anything you keep driving, you keep working and good things will happen."

It's this attitude that has contributed to much of the NovaCare Complex believing Foles is their quarterback of the future. Foles has done everything that's been asked of him his rookie season to earn the Eagles' faith.

“I think he’s a winning quarterback," coach Andy Reid said. "Nick got thrown in when other teams were working to their peaks. He was thrown in in that situation. He has enough skill and ability to play.”

Of course, in typical Nick Foles fashion, he doesn't harp on all the positives. He focuses on all the areas he needs to improve.

"There's some good things, there's some bad things to work on," Foles said. "There's a lot I need to work on. The way I look at it, there is a ton of room for improvement. I just have to write it down, study what I need to improve on and that is what you work on in the offseason. Just fine-tune your skills and keep improving. You just have to keep working."